Meet your new OFVGA chair

potatoes and onions, fresh cilantro and dill, and corn, soybeans and wheat as rotation crops on approximately 2,300 owned and rented acres.

I’ve been part of the OFVGA board since 2018, when I joined as the director representing the potato sector and have been involved with both the crop protection and labour sections.

Marie-Claude Bibeau, and other farm leaders and government representatives.

It’s been about a month since I became the new chair of the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers’ Association (OFVGA). I appreciate the opportunity to lead this organization, to continue to build upon the foundations laid by our previous chairs and board members, and to work on behalf of the growers of this province for the betterment of our industry.

My brother and I are coowners of our fourth-generation family farm in a rural area of the city of Hamilton. We grow

I’m also currently the chair of the Ontario Potato Board and vice chair of the Workplace Safety and Prevention Services (WSPS) advisory committee for agriculture and horticulture, as well as serving on the WSPS executive advisory committee.

The OFVGA chair represents the organization and the grower community across a variety of events and situations, and I’m looking forward to meeting new people both inside and outside of our sector. My first opportunity came only a couple of weeks after taking on this new role, when I had the chance to participate in a round table on sustainable agricultural strategy with our federal minister of agriculture,

As I look to the year ahead, I believe that safety nets and securing greater investment into the Risk Management Program/ Self-Directed Risk Management (RMP/SDRM) will be one of the OFVGA’s greatest priorities. Our safety net section chair Mike Chromczak and policy advisor Stefan Larrass have been leading the work on this file.

In an environment loaded with risk where it is so difficult to get fairly compensated for the fruits and vegetables we grow, it is currently the best tool growers have to combat the uncertainty around inflation and rising input costs. Our sector is very diverse, but this is one issue that touches all growers and a properly funded RMP/SDRM program is vital if we hope to preserve our longterm domestic food production capacity.

Labour also continues to be a key priority for our organization. For the last several years, the focus was on COVID policies and compliance but as we emerge from the pandemic, this is shifting more to housing and increased compliance audits by Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC).

Bill George, who is no stranger to OFVGA as a former board chair, has taken on the role of labour section chair and we’ve already had our first committee meeting to start his involvement on that file. He takes over from Ken Forth, who stepped down from the labour section earlier this year. I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank Ken for his many years of service and hard work on behalf of growers. You truly made a difference!

Work also continues on addressing red tape challenges with Environmental Compliance Approvals, as well as pushing for enhanced federal funding for the Pest Management Centre and its important work in ensuring we have access to the technology we need to grow our crops.

As I write this, I’m getting ready to attend my first annual general meeting of the Fruit and

Vegetable Growers of Canada as OFVGA chair. Many of the files we deal with at our board table are national in nature, and I look forward to continuing our work with FVGC on labour, crop protection and other key issues that matter to us as growers.

Internally, our board is continuing our governance review project that started last year. It’s not a short or glamourous process, but it’s an important one that will help chart a strong future path for our organization. And of course, life is unpredictable, so we never know what issues or situations may be waiting for us around the corner that will suddenly jump to the top of our priority list. I’m proud of the professionalism of the team we have at OFVGA and of the work that this organization does on behalf of growers, and I’m honoured to have been given the responsibility to serve as your chair.

Shawn Brenn, a potato grower from Waterdown, is chair of the Ontario Fruit & Vegetable Growers' Assoc.

Expect the world from us. That’s the theme of The Oppenheimer Group’s release of its sustainability report in March 2023. It’s a worthwhile read from the perspective of the company’s calculated approach to the issues of growing, refrigerating, packaging and transporting produce along the value chain. Photo courtesy The Oppenheimer Group.

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